Japan’s Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency (ATLA) has signed a mass production procurement agreement with Terra Drone for interceptor drones made using 3D printers.
ATLA selected the Terra B1, a rocket-launched interceptor drone, after a demonstration with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Forces. The tender called for drones capable of countering one-way attack platforms like the Shahed and anti-radar loitering munitions such as the IAI Harpy.
The Japanese agency’s published schedule put demonstration tests in late July to early August 2026, a mass procurement contract in late August, and delivery around September 2026.
ATLA disclosed neither the number of units on order nor the contract value, though the agreement supports a broader government goal of fielding a large unmanned fleet by 2027.
Why Terra Drone Chose 3D Printing
The B1 itself builds on a design already tested in combat. It is a domestic variant of Terra Drone’s A1 model, which was deployed on Ukrainian battlefields earlier this year. Terra Drone has not published detailed specifications on the B1’s range, payload, or unit cost.
What the company has discussed openly is how it plans to manufacture the drone. According to CEO Toru Tokushige, 3D printing compresses the design and prototyping phase and allows faster entry into mass production.
The technology also gives the company time to modify the interceptors to adapt to evolving threats and what he described as a fast-changing drone technology landscape, without delaying the deployment schedule.
Tokushige also outlined a separate concern around where the drones are built. Terra Drone intends to spread production across multiple facilities and eventually establish local printing farms. A factory that prints drones to counter loitering munitions is itself a target for loitering munitions.
“Even if one production site were attacked by a system such as a Shahed-type drone, this distributed model could significantly reduce the risk of the entire supply chain being disrupted,” Tokushige told Defense News.
Military Experiments Push Production Forward
Japan’s move into 3D printed drone production does not exist in isolation. During RIMPAC 2026, US-based Firestorm Labs 3D printed over 1,000 parts and assembled 12 flight-ready Squall FPV quadcopters inside a containerized factory aboard the USS Essex during a two-week transit to Hawaii.
Marines subsequently flew those drones in a counter-UAS exercise. That was complete drone production aboard a warship, not field repairs or spare parts. The experiment offers a parallel to Japan’s planned distributed production model, but in a more constrained environment.
Firestorm’s xCell platform. Photo via Firestorm.
The US Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade has also been producing 3D printed drones in the field. During Agile Spirit 25, a multinational exercise in Eastern Europe, soldiers built and deployed FPV drones at $400 to $500 per unit. By comparison, the Pentagon’s FY 2026 missile procurement budget, prices Switchblade 600 loitering munitions at $170,000 each. The Terra B1 is a different class of system from a field-assembled FPV drone, but the comparison highlights the potential value of low-cost, rapid production for expendable systems.
For an interceptor intended to counter incoming drones, the ability to produce replacements quickly could be valuable, particularly when conventional manufacturing depends on tooling, centralized facilities, and longer lead times. Whether that advantage holds at the volumes and quality standards a national procurement contract demands is the question Japan’s contract will now have to answer.
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Featured image shows Terra Drone’s B1 interceptor drone. Photo via Terra Drone.